Frank Wolf Will Not Seek Re-Election (Updated)

Updated 2 p.m. | Republican Rep. Frank R. Wolf will not seek an 18th term in Congress, according to a statement from his office.

“I have decided not to seek re-election to the U.S. Congress in 2014,” Wolf, the dean of Virginia’s congressional delegation, said on Tuesday. “It has been an honor to serve the people of northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.”

“I thank my constituents for giving me the privilege of representing them in Congress for 34 years,” he added.

Wolf’s decision puts into play a Northern Virginia seat that was only safe based on the strength of his incumbency. Democrats are almost sure to go after it. Mitt Romney narrowly carried the district, with 50 percent of the vote to President Barack Obama’s 49 percent, in 2012.

Still, a long list of ambitious Republicans will likely consider running for the open seat. Republicans immediately named state Del. Barbara Comstock, a former Wolf aide, as a top potential candidate.

Former Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., who switched to the GOP, told CQ Roll Call in February that he would be interested in running should Wolf retire. In response to a Tuesday inquiry from CQ Roll Call, Davis did not rule himself out of the race.

“I will monitor the field that develops in the next several weeks in the hope that a responsible center-right candidate will emerge, one who gives Republicans a chance to keep this district and who will represent the best of the Virginia Republican Party,” Davis said in a statement.

Attorneys Richard Bolger and John Foust are already running for the Democratic nomination.

The 10th district encompasses much of exurban Virginia outside Washington, D.C. It stretches east from the West Virginia border, with tentacles to the north reaching deep into McLean along the Potomac River and to the south to the Occoquan along Interstate 95.

We’ll see if Virginians want to raise or lower the collective IQ of their state. Once Wolf vacates it will go lower. Time will tell…

dectra

Well, to be fair, it’s gone up quite a bit since the Grifter In Chief, Bob “THIEF” McDonald and his idiot A.G. are out of the picture.

teapartyidiots

The Dems just whooped with joy.

David Austin

How disappointing that your article only focuses on the potential replacements to Mr. Wolf and fails to mention the legislative accomplishments, bi-partisanship or human-rights achievements of one of the better Congressman who has served in the past 50 years in the House. This kind of poor writing feeds the media frenzy around control, power, competition and greed. Roll Call should take a lesson from Mr. Wolf’s record and do better.

Benjamin Dover

If free markets are to work well, civilized moral standards and proven legal principles must be in place to guide separate competitors working independently in the marketplace.